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Legal Proceedings
9 Months Ended
Sep. 30, 2019
Subsequent Events [Abstract]  
Legal Proceedings

On July 11, 2019, the Company brought suit against News Corporation, News America Marketing FSI L.L.C., and News America Marketing In-Store Services L.L.C. (collectively, “News America”) in the U.S. District Court in Minnesota, alleging violations of federal and state antitrust and tortious interference laws by News America. The complaint alleges that News America has monopolized the relevant market through various wrongful acts designed to harm the Company, its last significant competitor, in the third-party in-store advertising and promotion products and services market. The suit seeks, among other relief, an injunction sufficient to prevent further antitrust injury and an award of treble damages to be determined at trial for the harm caused to the Company.

 

In August 2019, News America filed an answer, which included a counterclaim against the Company alleging breach of the existing Settlement Agreement between the Company and News America and seeking recovery of amounts paid to the Company under that Agreement or enforcement of the agreement in a manner that could prevent certain of the Company’s initial claims.  In October 2019, News America moved for a judgment on the pleadings and to dismiss Insignia’s complaint based on the Company’s alleged breach of the existing Settlement Agreement. Management believes that the counterclaim is without merit and the Company filed its response brief on November 11, 2019. The Company also moved to dismiss News’s counterclaim.

 

The Court has denied News America’s request to stay discovery and discovery has begun. A hearing on the parties’ motions is scheduled for December 17, 2019.Due to the early nature of these proceedings, we are unable to determine the likelihood of an unfavorable outcome or estimate any potential resulting liability at this time.